Gov. Jay Inslee must produce a comprehensive plan for increasing COVID-19 testing in Washington.

This is critical now that Inslee is reopening parts of the economy and deploying a contract-tracing brigade, to better inform people exposed to the novel coronavirus.

A near-term testing plan, primarily for the next few months, could be released soon, Dr. Charissa Fotinos, the Washington State Health Care Authority’s deputy chief medical officer, said Thursday. That’s good. But the state also needs a longer-term plan to increase testing statewide, including testing people with no symptoms but whose jobs put them in proximity to many other people.

Oregon announced its testing plan May 1, including a surveillance plan to monitor 100,000 randomly chosen residents.

All states are suffering from the federal government’s epic failure to provide adequate testing supplies and protocols. Washington is continually scrambling for material while waiting and hoping the next batch of supplies promised by the feds will arrive.

Read the entire op-ed at The Seattle Times. Judy Wasserheit, Chair of the Department of Global Health, is quoted.